This is a record of my journey as a Muslim. I used to be Catholic and belonged to a missionary organisation. After my conversion, I sat on the board of a Muslim converts' organisation and specialised in da'wah programmes, convert management, interfaith issues and apostasy cases. I am an initiate of a Sufi order. As such, the articles and writings tend to cover these areas.
All the Arabic and graphics could not have been done without the help of my wife, Zafirah.

Thursday, 23 October 2014

Adam's (a.s.) Wasilah through the Prophet (s.a.w.)

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The concept of wasilah
and tawaswswul is a sound doctrine in
our ‘aqidah. The following hadits is a strong basis of it, and even the Wahhabi sect accepts
that it is authentic, although they still deny wasilah, considering it shirk.

As recorded in al-Mustadrak
asw-Swahihayn, by Imam al-Hakim
(r.a.), ‘Umar ibn al-Khaththab (r.a.) reported that the Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “When Adam committed his
mistake, he said, ‘O my Lord, I ask you to Forgive me for the sake of Muhammad (s.a.w.).’

Allah Said, ‘O Adam, and how do you know about Muhammad (s.a.w.) whom I have not yet Created?’

Adam replied, ‘O my Lord, after You Created me with Your Hand
and Breathed into me of Your Spirit, I raised my head and saw written on the
heights of the Throne, ‘Laa Ilaha Illa Allah,
Muhammadar Rasulullah.’ I understood
that You would not Place next to Your Name but the Most Beloved One of Your Creation.’

Allah Said, ‘O Adam, I have Forgiven you, and were it not for
Muhammad, I would not have Created you.’”

Imam al-Hakim (r.a.)
said, after narrating it, “This hadits
has a swahih chain, and it is the
first hadits that I have mentioned
from ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam in this book.” Imam al-Hakim (r.a.) was an outstanding imam
of ahadits. He knew well that Shaykh ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn
Zayd ibn Aslam (r.a.) was declared
weak by other a’immah, so why did he
classify this narration swahih? We must understand that the a’immah do not consider only the
strength of the narrators in the chain. Amongst the many things they consider include
the matn, the text, of hadits. And they also consider its relationship with
the Qur’an and other ahadits, from swahih to dha’if. After consideration
of all the relevant factors, an overwhelming majority of scholars have declared
this hadits as Swahih.

Qadhi ‘Iyadh (r.a.),
the great scholar of sirah and ahadits, narrated it under the third chapter
of his ash-Shifa’ in which he wrote,
“This chapter is about swahih and
famous narrations,” and he said that Imam Abu Muhammad al-Makki (r.a.) and Imam Abu al-Layts as-Samarqandi
(r.a.) mention it. Qadhi ‘Iyadh (r.a.) also wrote, “It is said that this hadits explains the verse …” and he mentioned the following verse.

Then learnt Adam, from his
Lord, Words of Inspiration and his Lord Turned toward him; for He is
Oft-Returning Most Merciful. (Surah al-Baqarah:37)

Qadhi ‘Iyadh (r.a.)
continued to cite another, very similar, version through Imam al-Ajurri (q.s.).

Imam ibn al-Jawzi (r.a.)
was one of the strictest scholars in jirah
wa ta’dil. Jirah wa ta’dil refers to a discipline in the science of ahadits criticism, whereby a systematic
criticism and understanding of the exact position of a narrator is
established. The function of al-jarh, which literally means “to
injure”, is to discover whether a narrator was ever declared a liar, a
fabricator of ahadits; whether he had
a poor memory; whether he was ever declared as unknown, majhul; or if he was of sound religion. at-Ta’dil,
which means, the “establishment of worthiness”, is to establish the position of
the narrator as wholly trustworthy, merely trustworthy, or acceptable, or whatever
is appropriate. al-Jarh has the negative function of criticism while at-ta`dil is the positive function of
authentication. This discipline is based
on the following verse:

O ye who believe! If a wicked person comes to you with any news,
ascertain the truth, lest ye harm people unwittingly, and afterwards become
full of repentance for what ye have done. (Surah al-Hujraat:6)

Imam ibn al-Jawzi (r.a.)
also considered this haditsswahih, which he cited it in the first
chapter of al-Wafa’ bi Ahwal al-Musthafa.
In the introduction, he wrote about this
book, “I do not mix the sound ahadits
with the false.”

Although he knew of Shaykh ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn Zayd’s (r.a.) weakness as a narrator; he also
mentioned the version of Maysarah al-Fajr (r.a.)
whereby the Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “When
Satan deceived Adam and Eve, they repented and sought intercession to Allah
with my name.”

Imam ibn al-Jawzi (r.a.)
also wrote, in the chapter concerning the Prophet’s (s.a.w.) superiority over the other prophets in the same book, “Part
of the exposition of his superiority to other prophets is the fact that Adam
asked his Lord through the sanctity of Muhammad that He Relent towards him, as
we have already mentioned.”

The leading authority for the Salafis and their “Shaykh al-Islam”, Shaykh ibn Taymiyyah (r.a.) also accepted this hadits as authentic. He quoted elsewhere, the other version
through Maysarah (r.a.) and wrote
regarding it in his Fatawa, “These
two are like the elucidation of the authentic ahadits…” and then he quoted the hadits.

Commenting on this, Imam ibn ‘Alawi al-Maliki (q.s.) wrote, “This indicates that ibn
Taymiyyah found the hadits sound
enough to be considered a witness for other narrations, because the forged and
the false are not taken as witness by the people of ahadits.”